Minnesota Prairie Roots

Writing and photography by Audrey Kletscher Helbling

And the winners of the Name a Snowplow contest in Faribault are… March 6, 2026

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These two new Faribault city snowplow trucks now bear names following a Name a Snowplow contest. (Photo credit: City of Faribault)

WHEN IT COMES to plowing snow, getting the white stuff off city streets as quickly as possible is likely top of mind for most property owners. We’re thankful when the plow clears our street, but even more thankful if that’s done before we’ve opened our driveways. There’s nothing quite as maddening as the snowplow plugging up the end of your driveway with a ridge of snow right after you’ve put away the shovel or snowblower. Timing is everything.

A tech inspired name for the snowplow also references the salt used on snowy and icy city streets. (Photo credit: City of Faribault)

But now the City of Faribault has put a little fun into snow removal by sponsoring a Name a Snowplow contest, much like the one held annually by the Minnesota Department of Transportation. The winners of Faribault’s inaugural contest to name two new snowplows are…drum roll, please: Ctrl Salt Delete with 84 votes (28 percent) and Darth Blader with 67 votes (22 percent). Both names were past winners in MnDOT contests.

Coming in third was Alexander Fariblow with 48 votes out of the 300-plus cast. Even though only two names were supposed to win, city officials discussed and decided to go with a third winner for a large front-end blower used to clear the downtown area. Good call, I say, as the name honors town founder Alexander Faribault whose 1853 wood-frame house stands downtown.

So how did the city get from contest idea to tagging two plows and a blower with names? First they asked for suggestions from the community with around 50 ideas submitted. Those were narrowed to six. The other three were Frost Responder, Farisnow and The Big Snowplowski. Then voting opened online.

But the city offered one more ballot option which I really like because it got kids involved. At a Halloween event at a local car dealership, the city placed decals of the top six names on the front of a snowplow. Kids and/or parents could then vote by putting their initials by their preferred name. About 60 votes were cast in that unique poll.

All in all, I’d say this first Name a Snowplow contest in Faribault was a success if you’re measuring community engagement and novel winter fun.

Second top vote-getter, Darth Blader. (Photo credit: City of Faribault)

Additionally, maybe seeing Ctrl Salt Delete or Darth Blader roaring down a snowy street will help us to be a bit more understanding if our driveway is plowed shut just after we’ve opened it. Maybe. I mean, raging at Darth Blader seems risky.

© Copyright 2026 Audrey Kletscher Helbling

 

Flurrious George & Curious George March 4, 2026

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Winning names in the 2025-2026 Minnesota Department of Transportation Name a Snowplow contest. (Graphic credit: MnDOT)

MINNESOTA WINTERS can get long. So long that many of our older residents flee to Arizona or Florida, becoming snowbirds for a few months before returning here in the spring. They don’t have to worry about shoveling or plowing snow or navigating snowy roads.

But for those of us who live here year-round, winter requires stamina and distractions to endure the snow, ice, cold and darkness that hallmarks Minnesota winters. In recent years, the Minnesota Department of Transportation has provided an entertaining diversion from winter in its annual Name A Snowplow Contest.

Recently, the winning names in the sixth annual competition were announced, demonstrating once again the creativity of those who came up with monikers for snowplows in each of MnDOT’s eight districts. It’s a process to get there from submissions, to selection of finalists, to voting. This year nearly 19,000 people voted, with “Oh, For Sleet’s Sake” as the top vote-getter. Gotta love that wintry version of “Oh, for Pete’s sake!”

As a creative myself, I’m always surprised by the names, most of them a play on phrases, a song, a pop culture whatever. You really do have to be up on your current musicians and such. I am the first to admit that I am not.

My mom holds Curious George. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo March 2021)

But “Flurrious George,” the name picked for District 6 in southeastern Minnesota with headquarters in Rochester (my district), is rooted in a name familiar to me. It’s based on the mischievous monkey in the Curious George children’s picture books. You know, the monkey who messes with The Man in the Yellow Hat.

Yet, this snowplow name stretches beyond a monkey and a man to a personal memory. Of my mom. In the final years of her life, when COVID-19 kept me from seeing her in a long-term care center 2 ½ hours from my home, Mom developed an attachment to Curious George. She couldn’t get enough of this monkey’s antics. She loved to watch Curious George cartoons on DVDs stacked in her room. Mom was so fixated on the story that a staff member, on her own time, shopped for a stuffed toy Curious George for her. She clutched that monkey like a toddler’s security blanket.

I don’t know what happened to Mom’s Curious George. I wish I had the plush monkey she cradled on her lap, touched with her fingers. It would connect me tangibly to my loving mother, who died four years ago in January 2022.

I’ve never really cried over losing Mom. I just haven’t. Until today. As I was writing this post about a snowplow named “Flurrious George,” I remembered photographing Mom holding Curious George when I visited her in March 2021. I hadn’t seen her in a year due to COVID visitor restrictions. I clicked on the story I wrote five years ago. I read. I scrolled. And I cried.

© Copyright 2026 Audrey Kletscher Helbling

 

And the 2024-2025 Minnesota snowplow name winners are… February 13, 2025

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(Graphic from the Minnesota Department of Transportation)

IN MINNESOTA, we’re not off to see The Wizard, but the blizzard. Or maybe we wish we were heading for the Emerald City. But the people have voted, and We’re Off to See the Blizzard topped the eight names selected for the Minnesota Department of Transportation’s annual Name a Snowplow Contest.

Polls closed last Friday with 23,400 people voting for up to eight names on a list of 50. That was narrowed from some 7,300 submissions.

A snowplow in my native southwestern Minnesota will now bear the name spun off from a line in “The Wizard of Oz” starring native Minnesotan Frances Gumm, aka Judy Garland. Her hometown of Grand Rapids (Minnesota, not Michigan) is located in MnDOT’s District 1 on the northeastern side of our state. A plow in that region will be tagged SKOL Plow, a tribute to the Scandinavian cheer chant for the Minnesota Vikings. That name came in at number seven in the polls.

Teenaged Mutant Ninja Turtles, popular superhero characters. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo)

Here in southeastern Minnesota, Plowbunga! will now mark one of MnDOT’s big orange snowplow trucks. Does that reference Cowabunga! of “The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” fame? I think so. My girls loved those cartoon superheroes, turtles in a half shell. Plowabunga! was the third top vote-getter.

Coming in second was Snowtorious B.I.G., which totally baffled me. So I googled and found connections to snow, drugs and sweaters.

Anthony Sledwards also had me stumped. Turns out Anthony Edwards is a star basketball player for the Minnesota Timberwolves. That explains it. I don’t watch sports. Travel in the Twin Cities metro and you will soon see Anthony Sledwards plowing snow.

The original version of “How to Talk Minnesotan,” published in the 1980s, is a primer to Minnesota language. (Book cover sourced online)

The fifth and sixth place winners, You’re Welcome and Don’tcha Snow, honor Minnesota Speak, phrases (or versions of) spoken by Minnesotans. Don’tcha know?

Rounding out the top ten is I Came, I Thaw, I Conquered, which will go on a plow in District 7, South Central Minnesota.

So there you go. How did I do with my picks? Three of my eight choices—We’re Off to See the Blizzard, SKOL Plow and Catch My Drift (#9 and which I really really like)—finished in the top ten.

I’m not sayin’ take me to Jackpot Junction, Mystic Lake, Treasure Island or any other casino in Minnesota because I’m not that good at picking winners. But I am sayn’ this annual contest is a whole lot of fun and certainly breaks up a long Minnesota winter.

© Copyright 2025 Audrey Kletscher Helbling

 

Winter diversion: Vote for Minnesota snowplow names January 26, 2023

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Graphic credit: MnDOT website

NEWS THAT VOTING has opened for the Minnesota Department of Transportation’s “Name a Snowplow” contest came at just the right time—as two clipper systems bring more snow into a state already overwhelmed by snowfall this winter. Voting comes also as the coldest air since mid-December is about to descend, dropping temps to below zero this weekend in most parts of Minnesota.

It’s been quite the winter. So this MnDOT contest is providing a humorous mental respite from the cold and snowy reality of January in Minnesota, with three months of winter to go.

Three years ago MnDOT launched its first snowplow naming competition, inviting the public to submit names for the big orange trucks that clear our state highways of snow and ice. This year 10,000 names were submitted, which have been narrowed down to 60 choices. Online voting is open until midnight, Friday, February 3. The winning names will grace eight snowplows in MnDOT’s eight districts.

I breezed through the names, quickly choosing my top three. Participants can vote for up to eight. I chose Blader Tot Hotdish (a reference to Minnesota’s culinary delight, Tator Tot Hotdish), Orange You Glad to See Me (picked for obvious reasons) and Spirit of ‘91 (a reference to the Halloween Blizzard of 1991, a multi-day blizzard which dumped single storm record snowfalls throughout the state; three feet in Duluth).

Last year’s winners included Ctrl Salt Delete (an obvious tech reference to the salt used to de-ice roadways), Blizzard of Oz (actress Judy Garland, aka Dorothy, born as Frances Gumm in Grand Rapids, MN.) and No More Mr. Ice Guy.

And in the 2020-2021 contest, Plow Bunyan (honoring legendary Minnesota lumberjack Paul Bunyan), F. Salt Fitzgerald (Minnesota-born novelist F. Scott Fitzgerald) and Duck Duck Orange Truck (a reference to Minnesotans’ insistence that the game Duck, Duck, Goose is, indeed, Duck, Duck, Gray Duck) were among the winning names.

I love this diversion from talking solely about the weather, as we Minnesotans are inclined to do, especially in winter.

This contest also puts a positive spotlight on MnDOT, which too often delivers the bad news of road closures, crashes, road construction, impossible driving conditions and more. “Name a Snowplow” is, simply put, genius creative marketing.

FYI: To vote, click here and follow instructions to cast your ballot. I don’t see any rules requiring Minnesota residency to vote.

© Copyright 2023 Audrey Kletscher Helbling